NFT: Islanders - Capitals 7pm Game Thread

Well, we're no longer under the radar. Most major sports outlets rank the Isles in the top 5, if not atop their "power rankings" (funny, but I'll bet that most of these pundits still don't know where Uniondale is), so we need to keep this thing rolling.

Jaro Halak gets the start tonight, and we have our D back at full strength with CDH and Hickey returning to the lineup.

Forwards:
Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo
Grabovski-Nielsen-Bailey
Lee-Nelson-Strome
Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck

Some nice sound bites from a good article in the Wall Street Journal (iknowrite?) that's ultimately linked below:

Quote:

The Islanders’ start might come as a shock to those who can’t remember the last time the team won the Stanley Cup (1983), or even a playoff series (1993), but this squad—young, skilled, opportunistic and relentless—appears to be for real. “To be the best athlete, you have to be the best-conditioned athlete, and our conditioning is strong,” coach Jack Capuano said. “I also feel like we have the confidence and the mind-set. No matter if we’re up one or down one, we’re going to finish the job.” “We try to grind teams out,” said Nielsen, a 30-year-old center from Denmark who broke in with the Islanders in 2007. “We play a very simple but hard-working style. It’s not always pretty out there, but we work extremely hard.”

Praise from their opponent tonight, Braden Holtby:

Quote:

“They’re playing well,” goaltender Braden Holtby said. “I think it’s no surprise. … I think last few years the Islanders have been a dangerous team to play against. I think the difference is they’ve added a little bit more structure defensively. They could always score. You always knew they were a dangerous team offensively. “Putting together both sides of it now, and it was only a matter of time until they did, so we have to be ready. They’re not going to be a team that bows off. They’re going to be up there for the rest of the year we think. We all believe that and those are points we really need to put ourselves in the class at the top of the division.”

More on the trade of Pedan yesterday from Staple, confirming what we'd began discussing...the Islanders were looking to add a pick in '16 and Pedan was well behind Reinhart/Pulock/Czuczman/Mayfield/Pelech on the prospect depth chart.

Kyle Okposo on compliments and being hard to play against:

Quote:

"I’ve liked what other teams have said after they’ve played us. How tough it is to play against us. That’s something that we’ve really been stressing as a team and what coaches have been stressing is to be tough to play against and we’ve done a good job of that. We can roll all four lines and keep coming at you and coming at you."

My two cents: stay out of the box tonight and we win. Don't, and we won't.

If you choose not to decide
You still have made a choice
You can choose from phantom fears
And kindness that can kill
I will choose a path that's clear
I will choose free will.

WSJ: Don't Look Now, but the Islanders are the Cream of NY Sports - ( New Window )